ActiveCampaign Review: Features, Pros and Cons, and User Reviews
ActiveCampaign is a SaaS product with a focus on customer experience automation. The platform combines the elements of email marketing, marketing automation, sales automation, and CRM (customer relationship management) into a single interface.
ActiveCampaign users can use its features to connect and engage with customers in a personalized way across various stages of the customer journey.
Over the last decade, ActiveCampaign has grown significantly and targeted small startups and large enterprises primarily. The platform is known for its user-friendly interface, extensive customization options, and powerful automation capabilities.
While all of this sounds great, is this platform right for you?
In some cases, ActiveCampaign’s features may not meet your requirements, while in other scenarios, the platform may be overkill for your needs. In this detailed ActiveCampaign review, we’ll analyze its features, catch up on what the customers think, and offer alternatives that you can consider.
ActiveCampaign: CRM System with Sales and Marketing Automation
ActiveCampaign aims to be a one-stop shop for businesses looking to automate processes, such as lead generation, sales, customer management, and marketing.
Here’s a breakdown of what ActiveCampaign offers:
- CRM: ActiveCampaign has built-in CRM features that allow you to manage customer information and track interactions.
- Marketing automation: This lets you create automated email campaigns, score leads based on their interactions with your brand, and track website analytics to understand your audience better.
- Sales automation: Manage the sales pipeline, track deals, and automate tasks like sending follow-up emails.
Here’s the full list of features offered by ActiveCampaign:
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| CRM | A system to store data and manage interactions with current and potential customers. |
| Email marketing | A set of tools to send email campaigns to a list of subscribers. |
| Sales automation | Features to simplify and automate sales processes such as lead scoring or sales pipelines. |
| Messaging | You can send text messages (SMS) and website messages to leads/customers. |
| Segmentation | This lets you organize contacts based on behavior for targeted marketing. |
| AI tools | Functions like automation, content generation, and send time optimization feature artificial intelligence. |
| A/B testing | Compare and test subject lines, content, or CTAs to determine the best performer. |
| Web tracking and personalization | Use this to track customer behavior on websites and personalize the content they see. |
| Landing page/form builder | This tool helps you design custom landing pages and forms to capture leads. |
| Analytics | The dashboard lets you access campaign reports and track performance and trends. |
| Mobile app | You can now access and manage your business on the go. |
| Third-party integrations | Support for third-party integration allows the platform to connect and exchange data with other apps. |
That’s a lot of features for one platform. The question is — how well do they work? The best way to find out is to examine online reviews to see what the customers think of ActiveCampaign.
What Customers Think of ActiveCampaign
ActiveCampaign reviews are a mixed bag. There are vocal fans of the platform but we did find a couple of reviews that highlighted problems with some features. To ensure this review is neutral, we handpicked an equal amount of positive and negative reviews.
We also avoided one-off complaints, which could be customer-specific; instead, we detected trends and chose comments that highlighted the same.
ActiveCampaign: Positive Reviews
In this review, this customer explains how ActiveCampaign’s automation features have helped their business grow with improved email statistics as well. This customer finds the API integration works well and without any issues.
Another review that praises the automation flows at ActiveCampaign, this user also adds how the platform has simplified work for them. They do mention the cost is high (we will cover this shortly), but overall, this user is pleased with the results.
Here we see a customer who is making the most of their ActiveCampaign subscription, using all of its features to the max. They are mainly using ActiveCampaign’s CRM but have also benefited from the lead generation and marketing automation features.
This review covers features like the email builder, lead generation, and email marketing. The customer is happy with ActiveCampaign’s performance on these fronts but adds that they would like better contact management features.
ActiveCampaign: Negative Reviews
The lack of transparency in features and pricing has annoyed this customer, and they explicitly state so in the review. They aren’t too happy with the CRM features and add that the analytics function isn’t too great, either.
This user raps customer support on the knuckles, finding them apathetic. The user leaves positive words about ActiveCampaign’s basic email marketing features.
As this review highlights, ActiveCampaign can be pricier than its competitors. The customer also complained about how slow the platform was and that the customer care team did nothing to help them out.
This user feels that ActiveCampaign is not good enough for his requirements. They leave negative feedback about poor customer support, basic features, and poor analytics.
ActiveCampaign: User Reviews Breakdown
We explored various review sites and read ample reviews to get a clear picture of what current and ex-customers of ActiveCampaign thought of the platform.
This table sums things up:
| ActiveCampaign: Wins👍 | ActiveCampaign: Fails👎 |
|---|---|
| Integrations | Customer care isn’t great |
| Good deliverability | Slow and buggy at times |
| Simple UI | Confusing segmentation/tagging features |
| Good automation | Expensive |
ActiveCampaign: The Right Choice or Not?
Bringing multiple business processes under one roof sounds appealing, which is what ActiveCampaign users sign up for. On the plus side, the user interface is intuitive and visual, which means that learning to use the features is simple, even if it takes time.
Secondly, the platform integrates with a wide range of tools, which attracts businesses that use specific tools that are important for their business.
But ActiveCampaign is not without its share of problems. For example, we saw numerous complaints about the platform being slow and glitchy, especially during peak hours. List management isn’t one of its strengths either, according to users who struggled to tag and segment their contacts.
And the pricing is steep, too. While you do get a lot of features, if you aren’t using them to the maximum potential, you might be burning your hard-earned money for no reason.
Here’s what we deduced from the reviews.
Join ActiveCampaign if:
- You plan to focus heavily on sales, marketing, and lead generation.
- You want a simple user interface.
- Your automation requirements are simple.
Consider ActiveCampaign alternatives if:
- You want better value for money.
- You want the features of a dedicated email marketing platform.
- You want simple segmentation and tagging features.
It’s now time to examine the good and bad things of ActiveCampaign in detail.
ActiveCampaign: The Strengths
ActiveCampaign does get quite a few things right — let’s check out what they are.
Intuitive UI and Ease of Use
ActiveCampaign takes a user-friendly approach to marketing automation and offers users a clean and intuitive UI. Their drag-and-drop email builder makes it easy to craft professional campaigns, and visual automation tools allow you to see your workflows mapped out clearly.
The dashboard is intuitively designed, presenting a clear overview of real-time campaign metrics, active campaigns, and automation workflows at a glance.
Integrations
ActiveCampaign offers extensive integration capabilities that help companies sync data across different business operations. The platform integrates seamlessly with over 900 third-party applications, including categories like e-commerce, CRM, social media, and content management systems.
Automation
ActiveCampaign features sophisticated automation capabilities. Businesses can use this platform’s automation to streamline their marketing, sales, and customer service processes efficiently.
The automation builder offers a visual interface where users can create complex workflows using a simple drag-and-drop system. This tool enables users to set up a variety of triggers based on customer actions, such as opening an email or visiting a webpage. You can set up these triggers to fire actions like sending targeted emails or updating contact details.
Deliverability
ActiveCampaign implements a range of best practices and technologies to optimize email deliverability. The platform also provides its users with tools and guidance to maintain good sender reputations, which includes setting up proper DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail) and SPF (Sender Policy Framework) records.
Besides this, ActiveCampaign also monitors sending practices and offers detailed reports and analytics to help users understand their email performance.
ActiveCampaign: The Weaknesses
As an all-in-one platform, ActiveCampaign can’t really keep up with dedicated platforms focused on sales, CRM, or marketing automation. Let’s see where it falls short of expectations.
CRM
ActiveCampaign’s CRM, while convenient due to its integration with marketing automation features, has some limitations compared to dedicated CRM platforms. For businesses with complex sales pipelines or large sales teams, ActiveCampaign’s CRM might lack the depth and functionality needed.
Users may also find features like advanced reporting and customization options to be limited.
Segmentation Tools
ActiveCampaign users may find it challenging to create a highly granular tagging system for in-depth audience personalization.
The user interface for segmentation can become complex and difficult to navigate when multiple layers of tags and conditions are applied. This complexity can lead to errors or inefficiencies, particularly for new users who are not yet familiar with the platform’s intricacies.
Customer Care
While we did note reviews praising the customer care team, there was a large number of reviews claiming they experienced apathy. Some users claimed that issues took too long to be resolved while others complained about being moved to different support tiers for no clear reason.
Speed Issues and Bugs
ActiveCampaign can sometimes struggle with speed, particularly for users managing a high volume of contacts or complex automation. This can be annoying for businesses that rely on speed and efficiency to manage real-time customer interactions and high-volume campaigns.
Occasional bugs and glitches within the ActiveCampaign platform can impact user experience. These include sync errors between the platform and integrated systems, unexpected behaviors in automation workflows, and problems with email templates.
Limited Reporting Features
ActiveCampaign’s reporting capabilities can feel somewhat limited compared to more specialized analytics tools or platforms. This can be an issue for larger businesses with complex data analysis needs. If you require deeper insights into customer behavior and campaign performance, ActiveCampaign may fall short.
Additionally, the visual presentation of data within campaign reports might not be the most intuitive, making it challenging to glean quick takeaways at a glance.
ActiveCampaign: Final Thoughts
So now that we have broken down the advantages and disadvantages of being an ActiveCampaign user, what’s the verdict?
Let’s simplify things with this table:
| ActiveCampaign: Pros | ActiveCampaign: Cons |
|---|---|
| Good deliverability rates. | Loading can be slow, and the platform has bugs. |
| Robust automation capabilities. | Analytics and reporting aren’t on par with dedicated ESPs. |
| Marketing, sales, and CRM under one roof. | The CRM features fall short of expectations at times. |
| Simple, intuitive user interface. | Customer care can be a hit or miss. |
ActiveCampaign: Pricing Explained
ActiveCampaign offers a lot of features and charges you appropriately for using them. Like most automation platforms, ActiveCampaign charges users for the number of contacts on their list. This means that as your subscriber/customer pool grows, you can expect to spend a significantly larger amount each month.
ActiveCampaign breaks up its paid plans into a “Marketing Automation + Email” plan, a “Sales + CRM” plan, and bundles. It sells transactional emails as a separate package.
ActiveCampaign: Email and Marketing Automation Plan
This table explains the pricing of marketing plans at ActiveCampaign:
| ActiveCampaign Marketing Plan | Pricing | Features |
|---|---|---|
| Lite | $15/month or $108/year | ‣ 500 contacts ‣ 1 user ‣ Email marketing ‣ Marketing automation ‣ Personalized chat and email support ‣ Inline forms ‣ Site and event tracking ‣ Automation and campaign reports ‣ API and Webhooks ‣ Goals |
| Plus | $70/month or $588/year | ‣ All of the above + ‣ 3 users ‣ 1,000 contacts ‣ Landing pages ‣ Facebook custom audiences and Lead Ads ‣ Lead scoring ‣ Pop-up and modal forms ‣ Conditional content ‣ WooCommerce, Shopify and BigCommerce integrations ‣ Custom mailserver domain |
| Professional | $187/month or $1,788/year | ‣ All of the above + ‣ 5 users ‣ 2,500 contacts ‣ Predictive sending (AI) ‣ Split automation ‣ Salesforce integration ‣ Microsoft Dynamics 365 integration ‣ Website and in-app messages ‣ Marketing attribution reporting ‣ Conversions |
| Enterprise | $323/month or $3,108/year | ‣ All of the above + ‣ 10 users ‣ 2,500 contacts ‣ Custom reporting ‣ Custom objects ‣ Single Sign-on ‣ HIPAA support ‣ Uptime SLA ‣ Unlimited email testing |
ActiveCampaign: Marketing Automation + Sales CRM Plan
If you want all of ActiveCampaign premium features, you’ll have to opt for one of these plans:
| ActiveCampaign plan | Price | Features |
|---|---|---|
| Plus | $116/month or $1,116/year | ‣ 1,000 contacts ‣ 5 users ‣ 12x contact email send limit ‣ Marketing automationSales automation ‣ Forms ‣ Landing pages ‣ Facebook custom audiences ‣ Facebook lead ads ‣ Site and event tracking ‣ Automation and campaign reports ‣ API and WebhooksGoals ‣ Custom mailserver domain |
| Professional | $482/month or $4,632/year | ‣ All of the above + ‣ 2,500 contacts ‣ 15x contact email send limit ‣ 10 users ‣ Sales engagement automation and one-to-one email ‣ Split automation ‣ Salesforce integration ‣ Microsoft Dynamics 365 integration ‣ Sentiment Analysis (AI) ‣ Win Probability (AI) ‣ Marketing attribution reporting ‣ Conversions |
| Enterprise | $918/month or $8,808/year | ‣ All of the above + ‣ 2,500 contacts ‣ 20x contact email send limit ‣ 15 users ‣ Custom reporting ‣ Custom objects ‣ Single Sign-on ‣ HIPAA support ‣ Uptime SLA ‣ Unlimited email testing |
ActiveCampaign: Alternative Options to Consider
If you’re wondering if there are ActiveCampaign alternatives you can evaluate that are a better fit for your business, here is a list of solid options you can examine.
- HubSpot,
- Keap,
- Campaign Refinery.
HubSpot: CRM, Sales, and Marketing Automation
HubSpot offers a wider range of features beyond what ActiveCampaign offers. This makes it a better all-in-one solution for businesses looking to manage their entire customer lifecycle. HubSpot also offers a free tier with limited features, which businesses/individuals can explore before they pay for plans with more features/limits.
HubSpot also comes with robust reporting and analytics features; these allow you to create custom reports with various data points and visualize them in a user-friendly way.
Mailchimp: All-In-One Platform
If you’re looking for an easy-to-use platform with the same features as ActiveCampaign, you should consider Mailchimp. It also features budget-friendly plans and scaling up won’t feel too hard on your pockets.
Before you pick a paid plan, you can test the automation features by getting on the free Mailchimp plan. This plan lets you access the marketing CRM and also email up to 500 contacts.
Campaign Refinery: Best Deliverability Rates
Want to give your emails the highest chance of landing in the inbox? Campaign Refinery would be your best option as the email industry’s deliverability leader.
Besides this, you also get an extremely simple automation designer, powerful segmentation tools, and tools to maximize your engagement. Plus, you don’t have to pay out of your nose for owning a large contacts list — Campaign Refinery only charges for the emails you send.
Join the Best ActiveCampaign Alternative Right Now
At Campaign Refinery, you can enjoy the best deliverability rates, superior tech support, in-depth analytics, and growth tools to help you achieve your most ambitious email marketing goals.
